The X1 is a great all rounder regardless, especially if you gravitate towards bass heavy genres.
Legit Beyer pads are too expensive, and I might hate the SQ being changed.

As for ears touching the driver cover... after having used the Koss clip ons so much (where your ears are ALWAYS pressed against the driver covers), the MA900 has less pressure than the clip ons, so it's a complete non-issue for me.

I don't know, man... it's a risk I'd probably take if it was me. Reward weighs more than the risk for my huge ears lolEdited by Change is Good - 9/6/13 at 11:33pm

If these had a detachable cable and thicker pads I would so jump on these at the $150 range. I wonder if Brian at BTG can mod these to have a detachable cable. Also, I wonder if the beyer velours fit without altering its sound.

How much plastic is there above the cable? From the pictures I've seen of the MA900 there doesn't seem to be much plastic available to shove a female TRS jack into there. If course, the drivers are 70mm so the relative scale of the outer plastic ring may be deceptive. The TRS jack I have is 18mm tall so assuming you run the wires 90 degrees perpendicular instead of straight/inline and if there is theoritically maybe 2mm of plastic on either side for the structure/wall, then that plastic ring section needs to be at least 22mm to have a hope of even considering a detachable cable mod. This is assuming the inside space is empty and the walls are 2mm thick.

Yeah, those Tesla Beyers have been mentioned to actually be more fatiguing than the older Premiums. That's why I lost interest.

As for the planar soundstage, I basically mean the depth of the sound, even in stereo. It sounds more rounded off and less linear. It's unlike any dynamic I've heard. It certainly doesn't reach out as much as some of the better dynamics though. I just love their presentation for music though.

As for the Kingsound... having a pretty heated discussion with some of the Stax 'Mafia', who have basically blasted the headphone since before it's release. Now that it's out, they're basically calling it crap. While I take their biased impressions with a grain of salt, I'm not really interested in spending so much for a specialty stat. I'd prefer something more universal to use.

I honestly don't even want to ever spend that much for headphones ever again, anyways. Something between the HE400 and HE500 in price and signature, with better comfort than both, and planar would be ideal.

I think if they made a lighter HE500... I would jump at it. I'm just tired of Hifiman's design. They need a new design, with pads as good as the HE4's, and weight like the HE4, but not as hard to drive. Like an HE-450...Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 9/7/13 at 12:23am

Whenever possible I'd love to see the Samson sr850 and/or Takstar hi 2050 (or equivalents) reviewed, as I see those mentioned on a regular basis for entry-level headphones for gaming. Comparing them to for example the Skullcandy could help me rate headphones vs gaming headsets.

Having said that: I'm already impressed by the amount of work you've been putting into this. I can learn a lot here, so thanks!

Choco, have you read the first post? This is mainly a guide revolving around using stereo headphones with virtual surround devices like the Mixamp which use Dolby Headphone. Dolby headphone simulates surround sound on any standard pair of headphones. The ONLY true surround headphones I have reviewed are the Tritton Ax Pros.

True surround headphones use multiple crappy drivers instead of just 2 really good drivers. All in all, you get much better sound quality when using standard headphones with simulated surround, which sounds basically better than any true surround.

I don't even know why I have to say this, as I mentioned all this on the guide itself, but here you go.

I just think my complaint about the MD's soundstage not being as big as the hyperbole Head-fi as a whole claimed was one of many, many factors that made Dan strive to improved the openness of the Mad Dogs. I'm positive I'm probably a very small factor, as I'm sure Dan has never stopped wanting to improve his headphones.

I'm still skeptical. After all, closed is closed, and no matter what trickery is used, I just don't ever see a closed headphone sounding open. "Large soundstage for a closed headphone" is about as much as I expect from ANY closed headphone. I think part if it is due to the ruined isolation caused by open headphones. Hearing just a little external influence may trick our brains into a bigger sense of openness in sound. If you're completely closed off from external noise (no matter how low or silent a room is), I just think our brains will perceive it as closed sounding.